‘It seems that providers change frequently, and that no-one in the wheelchair service seems to care.’

Previous provider said it inherited a waiting list as well

THE NHS trust that previously provided the wheelchair service said it went some way to reducing a backlog.

Solent NHS Trust, which provides community and mental health services in Portsmouth, said it held the wheelchair services contract for less than three years.

A spokesman said: ‘We handed over the running of this service to Millbrook Healthcare in April last year.

‘It’s important to place on record that we ran this service for only two-and-a-half years prior to that. We also inherited a waiting list.

‘We had managed to significantly reduce that waiting period by the time we handed over.

‘We fully accept there were areas of improvement needed, particularly with regard to information systems, but we can give reassurance we did our best to provide a reasonable service, within the means at our disposal at the time.’